The San Francisco 49ers stayed on the East Coast between their Week 1 and 2 matchups against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Cincinnati Bengals and emerged from the road trip with two wins. The team stayed in Youngstown, Ohio following the game against the Buccaneers and felt it helped to get acclimated to the time change.
The 49ers hope to do the same thing between Weeks 13 and 14 in December for road games against the Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints. The team is working on finalizing the details but will likely stay somewhere in Florida for the trip, head coach Kyle Shanahan said on Saturday.
"It shouldn't be as hot that time of year, so it should be alright," he told reporters.
Baltimore is in the Eastern time zone (three hours ahead of the West Coast) while New Orleans is in the Central (two hours ahead of the West Coast).
Shanahan admitted that he hasn't met with the team's leadership council, made up of players, yet but plans to do so on Sunday. The players felt their stay in Youngstown earlier this season was beneficial.
"The week in Youngstown definitely paid off, getting us on the time frame and everything," quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo said after the 49ers' win against the Bengals. "We had some extra time to be around each other, talk through things, and I thought, as an offense, we were all on the same page. It makes everything a lot easier when you're like that."
Cornerback Richard Sherman also believed the stay on the East Coast was helpful but questioned whether players' and coaches' families would be on board for another extended trip away from home.
"Obviously, we won this game (against the Bengals), and we had a successful trip, so I'm sure they'll take that into account," Sherman after the Week 2 victory. "But I'm sure they'll take what our wives have to say, and what [Shanahan's] wife has to say, and what the kids have to say, as well.
"You might be taking a bigger trip, a bigger group of people the next time. I don't think they're going to take another 10-day (trip) away from the family in the middle of December, or whenever it is."
